Meaningful Use (MU) for Electronic Health Records (EHR)

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) was enacted to accelerate the adoption of EHRs by offering monetary incentives to eligible providers and hospitals. MU is defined by the use of certified EHR in a meaningful manner, is connected to improve quality of care; and submit the Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) information on quality of care and other measures.

CMS recently released a final rule that specifies criteria that eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals (EHs), and critical access hospitals (CAHs) must meet in order to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs. The final rule’s provisions encompass 2015 through 2017 (Modified Stage 2) as well as Stage 3 in 2018 and beyond.

Objectives and Measures

All providers are required to attest to a single set of objectives and measures. This replaces the core and menu structure of previous stages

There are 10 objectives for EPs, and 9 objectives for EHs and CAHs.

In 2016, all providers must attest to objectives and measures using EHR technology certified to the 2014 Edition, 2015 Edition, or a combination of the two.

Changes to the Public Health Reporting Objective

Public Health Reporting, Objective 10 in 2016, all EPs must meet two measures, and EH and CAHs must meet three measures.

ADPH will work with vendors and providers after EHR certification is obtained. It is important for providers to select an EHR company that meets HL7 messaging standards and the federally mandated vocabulary standards for Immunization, Electronic Lab Reporting, Syndromic Surveillance and Cancer.

In order for this process to be effective, the following steps need to occur:

Vendors obtain EHR certification using the Office of National Coordinator’s (ONC) process.

Vendors and providers must register with ADPH through ADPH’s Security Portal (SP) website.

For more immunization specific MU information, please see ImmPRINT Webpage.

Users will find the specific onboarding requirements and other relevant information for their selected programs in the Meaningful Use Application.